A Smiling Angel 3
by Kuinshii
Summary: Merianna is ready to return home after losing the Phantomhive estate ready to welcome her back, even if she is no longer the same? In the final battle between them and the mysterious forces of the Rouge-Gorges, she will have to not only prove her worth as a servant, but a soldier. No longer a smiling angel, she will have to finish up her tasks before her eternal rest.


"Pa-pa…" Merianna whimpered, staring at the two daggers embedded into her body.

She tried to touch them and to pull them out, but they were unable to be touched by her hands. Still, they weighed down on her. She saw blood flowing down from where they had pierced her. She heard the roars of demons, and the paces of the man walking over to her with two silver daggers in his hands. He looked absolutely fierce, with only the look of a savage wolf in his eyes.

"That's good, that's good. You should know the name of your father."

"W-Why…why…" she pleaded.

To the side of this man, a woman in a dark green suit. Her eyes were happily gloating in her face along with her wicked smile.

"I, Vanagloria, bestow upon this man my blessing. May your boasting sharpen the edges of your pride."

As she said that, the silver daggers in his hands turned dark green. The woman disappeared. Merianna picked up her gun, surprised to see another woman standing beside her, looking very much like the other one but clad in a deep blue.

"I, Acedia, bestow upon this woman my blessing. May your sadness give all opponents a quick and final rest."

The gun turned a dark blue after the blessing of Acedia. Merianna picked it up and held it up.

"Oh, Merianna! You can't shoot blanks, you dumbass!" Clairvaux yelled from the sidelines, "It's fine, just use your sins as bullets!"

"Merianna! Don't use just one hand! The recoil! The recoil!" Jake added in.

Merianna wasn't sure what to do. How was she supposed to do that? How was she supposed to hold a gun? She only picked it because it was the most dangerous tool she could think of. Other than that, she never had any training. Her finger tried pressing the trigger, but it stayed still and unmoving no matter how hard she pressed. Roitelet, on the other side, opened his hand and let the dagger free.

"Back then, I tried to drown you in a basin of water! If only your damn whore of a mother didn't interfere!"

Somehow, the dagger was flung and hit her right in the thigh. The dagger didn't hurt, but his confession did. She somehow wished that she did die back then. His slander at her mother hurt her even more. Somehow, she had to confess a wrongdoing she did. Hopefully that was how the game was played. She had quite a lot, now that she thought about it. Above, one of the princes actively clapped his hands. It was Satan, if she remembered correctly.

"I…I helped set fire to a jeweller's stand so that we could steal their things…" she mumbled under her breath.

She felt something click in the gun and immediately raised it up, pressing the trigger. The gun fired it and the recoil sent a shockwave down Merianna's wrist. She switched it to her other hand to flick her hurt one. Ah, Jake had suggested that she didn't hold it with one hand after all. The bullet embedded itself in Roitelet, a success. She felt a bit of pride despite not aiming at all. As long as accuracy wasn't a problem, all she had to do was to tell stories and press a trigger. Roitelet merely flinched from the tiny hole in his stomach. It was too shallow to even draw blood.

"Ahh, too weak, too weak. What kind of things did you actually _steal_?" Asked a demon prince with chopped chestnut hair.

"We-Well…I didn't…really steal an-anything…" she confessed. "I watched."

Clairvaux growled and slapped a hand to her face, dragging down her facial features in despair. Jake, at the sidelines, shuddered at the memory. They successfully got away with the loot. Jake had given a pearl necklace to Merianna. She was happy until she found out where it came from and got angry with him. Compared to the daggers slicing into Merianna's body and the small hole in Roitelet that barely penetrated his shirt, she was losing heavily.

"I did terrible things to your mother, you know?" Roitelet taunted. "Would you like to hear all about it?"

One of the demon princes, Asmodeus, lightly stepped down from his throne and stood behind Roitelet, whispering over his shoulder. The daggers in his hand began to multiply and soon became an arsenal floating above his opened palm. Merianna slapped her hands over her ears, shivering at the thought. She dropped the gun in order to do so, and could only watch what was happening. Beelzebub also came over to Roitelet's side. Whatever it was that he was going to say, she didn't want to hear it.

"N-No…No…No… I don't…No…"

She remembered her mother's story, from using _The Moon _on Jake's memories. The time she asked for an explanation that was that her mother was getting killed over and over again. It struck fear into her that this was the man capable of doing it daily for years and years. When he started talking, daggers came at her from all over and in teams of ten at a time. It really was an unfair battle, she thought. Feeling absolutely powerless, she sat on her knees while everything dug into her. When it was over, she looked over at the heartless man. Three demon princes were standing over by his side, staring at her like wolves about to devour its prey. She could hardly stand back up. There were no more daggers floating above Roitelet's hand, but giant spears dyed in black, green and purple. No, she bit down on her tongue and had to think of not just petty stealing and mistakes, but full out crimes again humanity and the world.

"I…I killed people…" she whimpered.

"Whhhaaaaaat? I can't hear you. Speak up, speak out! No one can hear you if you keep mumbling!" Leviathan growled from his throne.

"I…I killed a lot o-of people!" she yelled out, feeling tears in her eyes, "The villagers, the one who put me up and tried to set me on fire! Everyone who went there to watch! A-And then…my family…my family! Everyone there…in that chapel…And once again! All those people there who tore up my feathers! Even…even my dear friend…was killed!"

She stood up, leaning heavily on one leg, holding the gun with two hands. This wasn't enough, the trigger didn't move. She somehow had to put more feeling in it. She had to prove that she, too, could sin.

"I…I wanted them to suffer…! I wanted everyone who e-ever crossed me to…to suffer…!"

"What a horrible lie."

When she opened her eyes, there were all seven princes in front of her. She didn't see them come over that close, but somehow she could feel that they were not supporting her. Belphegor, being the one in the centre, grabbing the muzzle with a bare hand. He squeezed, and immediately the gun was crushed in their hands. The pieces fell to the ground. The six that were on either side held up their hands, and six hellish spears appeared. Just looking at them, all pointed at her, made Merianna panic. Belphegor thrust his palm to Merianna's chest, and suddenly something exploded out of her back.

"You don't realize, do you, stupid whelp… Angels don't bear human sins."

It really was unfair. Before she could scream or say something back, six spears were stabbed into her body. And these ones, unlike the weighted ones of Roitelet, seared flesh and erupted her nerves as they dug in. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Or maybe it did, but she couldn't hear it. She didn't know how, but somehow the demon princes had also pulled her wings out to ensure that absolutely no part of her body was spared. When it was over, she could only feel numbing pain as she looked down at the ground. Her feet weren't even touching the black sand. Cherry-red blood stained the spears, dripping from her face down her torso, down her legs and made a puddle of juice in the sands. Were bones even a factor that intervened them? In the far off distance, she could hear her father laughing. She could hardly move anything at all, but tried to hold her head up so she could see what was happening. Her neck was sore and couldn't support her heavy head, so it fell back down. The blood dripping down her face prevented her from opening both eyes. She felt a hand wipe the blood from her eyes, allowing her to open them. Those hands were Jake's, and they cupped her chin and raised them so that they met eye to eye.

"Meri-anna…You tried…you really did…I'm sorry…" said Jake, "This is all my fault…I'll fix it…I'll fix it…"

Beside him, Clairvaux, who was also looking at her with pitiful eyes.

"J-Jaaake? Wha…What are y-you goi-?"

She coughed up blood, unable to finish her sentence. He flinched as she did, but didn't remove his hands. They became stained with her blood too. Finally, he gently let her go and turned his back to her. Using the remainder of her strength, she vowed to watch him. She saw a silver gun appear in his hands. She saw the princes leering from Roitelet's side, and returning up to their throne to sit back down. Could it be that Jake was going to participate in the duel? She tried turning her head to Clairvaux, who had remained at her side. She saw her gesture and spoke.

"Yah, he can participate innit. Whoever said he couldn't? I suppose it's more fair this way." She sighed, "But two dead souls fighting one another… they're gonna raise the stakes up higher."

She let out a small cry. "I-I…wanted t-to pro-ove…th-that I could b-bee…sstrong…too…Why… is h-hhe always be-be-beeinng… dragged in…?"

"Whoever loses this round… will definitely be turned into a tarot card. Hmm…I helped twist the rules a bit so that he would be accepted as your stand-in. The only thing is that he couldn't choose his own weapon…but he says he knows how to handle guns."

"He do-doesn't st-st-st-and a chance…Clairva-ux…Pl-Please…"

"Idiot angel…" she grumbled in reply. "As long as he twists his way around, he can do it. I've seen what sort of soul he is."

She stepped up beside Jake, flashing a grin at Merianna and mouthing "it'll be okay". With a snap of her fingers, Clairvaux transformed into a form that was identical to Vanagloria and Acedia, only wearing a sleek deep red opposed to their green and blue.

"I, Haeresis, bestow upon this man my blessing. May your heterodoxy claim you the inheritance of all that is above you."

The gun glowed crimson red. Jake slapped the magazine into place and readied the gun in his hands with a sharp intake of air. From the sidelines, he had seen how this battle was to be won.

"I committed arson against a merchant, stole his wares and kept the pieces for my own gain. Twenty of them were sold to a pawn shop for money. I tricked a girl into thinking I had bought it with all that money when it was one of the pieces, just to gain her favour."

Three shots were fired with steady aim, all piercing the same spot in Roitelet's head. Unfortunately, he quickly recovered from them, cursing the familiar murderer.

"I beat my first wife every day when she didn't bring enough money back, and left her to starve to death! That wasn't enough, so I paid to have divorce on my papers!" boasted the opposition. "Whoever it was, I remarried a fucking angel!"

Two daggers fell unto Jake, but he still kept his head up.

"You bloody fucker…did you even know the names of your goddamn wives?" he asked rhetorically.

"No. Who cares that much to bother with names?"

"Prick."

Jake and Roitelet had a moment of silence, thinking up newer and heavier confessions.

"… I see the game now… Take down your enemy as fast as you can…" Jake muttered to himself, "I can't… believe I have to say all of this…in front of you. It's absolutely disgusting."

Merianna remembered Maro's warning, to be careful of Jake. She still pushed it away, rationalizing that in a battle like this, danger was an asset.

"I made the life of my lover horrible and had others do the same because she rejected me. She wanted to pursue another kind of life so I brooded and brooded in my jealousy for years. With all my cousins in a thief gang, we stole from all men and women alike, not even children were exempt. They didn't deserve it when we lived like this. Even the world that we lived in, that took all of it from us…I hated everything that wasn't mine!"

Just before he could pull the trigger, Leviathan dropped down from his throne and stepped to Jake's side. He clapped, blessing Jake for his wonderful speech. Swiping his hand, the gun suddenly had two muzzles instead of one.

"That's nice…drink up all the envy you can, take pleasure in others misfortune as it is taken from right underneath their noses!" the demon prince commanded haughtily.

On the other side, a demon prince had also been whispering to Roitelet, who had daggers with serrated edges now. Summoning three of them, they met the rapid fire of bullets. While both men had taken damage from the weights, Roitelet seemed to be on the losing side.

"How cute…you are the little fuck whose been defending my kid all this time. I really wish I could've jump on that ship, get away to England and take her back with me. That's fine…you probably never even fucked a girl before. Hahaha… never did have the chance to, did you? Even better when I told the whole town how I fucked an angel raw. I saw the rage in their faces, the jealousy, the hate. If she had given birth to a boy, I was going to strangle it with my hands. But with a girl… I could've kept her and raised her up quite well."

The demon beside him laughed, whispering even more into his ear. The demon prince flipped his deep blue hair over his shoulders.

"Why be satisfied with only one slave when you can have more? There's no one you need to serve but youself!" he praised.

"That child has always belonged to me…and once you're done for, I'm going to teach her the ways of shouting for heaven. How old is she now…? Well, not like age really matters. I'm sure that she'd be able to handle bearing another child. And even if she didn't survive…I'll still be able to have as much as I want until I die!"

After the barrage of sharp knives found themselves in his body, Jake stood there, fuming. He was trembling now, and couldn't keep a still aim. Even if he didn't need to aim, his anger was getting to him again. He was actively charging at Roitelet, raising his fist and flipping the gun to hold the muzzle in his grasp.

"You fucker-! I'll kill you! Monster! I'll shove this gun right down your throat and blast you all the way back down to Hell where you belong!" he threatened.

At once, a barrier came between him and the man, a wave of light rippling where Jake had ran into it. He cursed as he fell backwards, making Roitelet and Mammon beside him laugh in unison. He got up to slam his fist into the barrier over and over again. Leviathan quickly clapped the back of Jake's head to stop him, linking his arm through his and pulled him away from the barrier.

Roitelet continued, a cruel leer contorting on his dumb face.

"Or maybe…you already had those dirty thoughts yourself? Maybe you even-"

But the demon held a hand over Roitelet's mouth, stopping him. He eyed one of the demon princes still sitting at his throne from his peripheral vision. The demon on Jake's side sneered upon realizing his intent. He again whispered something Jake's ear after pulling him away from the barrier. Jake, upon hearing whatever was said to him, laughed in a bitter matter, holding his hand over his face. He held his stomach and laughed it out. This was a time to win, to win over the support of the demon price that oversaw this sin.

"Hahaha…don't you know? That everything was for her? That I sacrificed everything for her? The truth is… I _love _the sins I've committed. Yes…the sins committed for Merianna…No, the ones _committed in her name_. The more I sin, the more she wants me, the more she wants to save me, the more I can have her. Ah…I love Merianna so much…That's why I do all these bad things… Sin after sin after sin, she still treats me as if I were the best thing in the world! But you've never seen that, have you?"

The demon prince Asmodeus perked up from his nap on the throne and gazed at the battle below him.

"How many times did that angel refuse you? How many times have she pushed you away? You were never wanted. Don't you see? I could _skin a man and absolutely everything would be fine!_… Only her…Only Merianna… I'll have her to look at me and say 'oh Jake, you've got blood on your face' while still accepting me in her arms. It's nice isn't it, being forgiven for absolutely everything. I'm sure that whatever I asked of her, she would give to me. So that's why I'm not going to lose this battle…all of it…I'll kill anyone in my way!"

Asmodeus put his face in his hands, shouting out to the boy.

"That's some nice resolve you have there, cute boy. What sort of screwed-up complex do you have that you would kill the father of your lover?" he hissed.

"He's…he's in the way," Jake barked, "He really wants Merianna back that much? I can't allow that… Right now, she already b-belongs to me! Tr-truth…I am burning at the fact that his filthy blood already runs in her…but that's fine… One I kill him she won't ever be able to leave me to return back to him. Yes… I just want to…rub it in his face…I… I already won this… I won and this is my right to do so-!"

He fired two shots that bypassed the barrier, embedding into Roitelet's leg.

"Ahahaha…you're a messed-up kid, you… Did you mum never love you?"

"You're one to talk, trash." Jake snapped back.

Both Lucifer and Asmodeus fluttered down gracefully. The gun that was in his hands suddenly charged up in a small wave of light. Right then, what was in his hands was a powerful sawed-off shotgun. Not that Jake would have known what it was, but he felt the power it held, needing to hands to properly hold it.

"Hmm…rubbing the prize you've won in his face …I like that sentiment of yours." cackled Lucifer.

"Whether it's really the girl you're after or the feeling of unconditional love, it doesn't really matter as long as you twist everything to satisfy yourself." Asmodeus mused.

"You…You bastard…!" Roitelet snapped.

His daggers seemed like nothing compared to the machine in Jake's hand. He shot a look at the remaining princes, yawning in their thrones. He needed more power.

"So…after you killed me…did you ever go see the basement of my house? Well, I'll describe it for you. I had a chain locked to the wall where I kept that bitch up so she couldn't run away. But I provided. I provided all that she needed. Food, when she needed some, I force fed her. A warm bed…hohoho…I figured that the mattress was already soaked in blood and in sweat. She even had no choice but to give birth there. All she wanted…apart from freedom… I gave her. The kid, too. I was nice enough to give her some toys and things to draw with. If she really wanted to come out of there, all she had to do was give herself up to me."

A flurry of sharp implements found their way to Jake. Strengthened with the power of Belphegor and Beelzebub, who jumped down to his side. Jake cried out as they dug deep into his chest.

"She had all that she needed…what did she really expect from him?" Belphegor defended.

Beelzebub presented himself before the other side: "Living a luxurious life at the expense of others…is the best way to live."

The demon princes all looked over to the last prince, sitting, lazily bouncing his foot up and down to keep himself amused.

"Oi! Satan, get your ass down here. You can't be telling me you aren't interested in _any _of them!" Leviathan screamed, "I was on this man's side since the beginning, I tell you."

"If Satan is joining any side, it has to be ours. I mean… look at how good and plump he's gotten..." Beelzebub snapped back, licking his lips.

"Shut up! Shut up! You are all so annoying! Hell, I don't know." Satan roared, "They're both equal in terms of wrath. If you guys are so damned split between them, any one of them would be good served up on a plate!"

Surprisingly, he jumped down at such a high speed that his crash into the sands sent it flying up and everywhere. When it settled, he was standing next to the dying angel, putting a hand on some part that wasn't pierced by a spear.

"I can sense some pretty strong emotions brewing in this one." He laughed.

"Haaah? No fair, Satan!" Belphegor whined, "She's not even part of this thing anymore. Cheaterrrr!"

"He's only joking, you fuckass. Obviously he doesn't _want to _choose sides in this because he's a fuckass." Mammon shouted.

The demon princes were so caught up in their arguing that they didn't hear the rapid clicking of a gun being reloaded many times over and over. Somehow the shotgun could have more than a shot loaded at a time, despite having no magazine. On the other side, Roitelet's knives were quickly multiplying over and over. The projectiles were launched many time over and each party had absolutely no defensive capabilities. Jake's voice suddenly roared and caught their attention in his drawn out growl.

"I hate you! When you fall into the abyss of hell and get turned into a fucking card, I'm going to rip you to pieces! You're the absolute scum of the Earth and I'll kill you twice before you'll ever touch Merianna again, you fucking cur!" he screamed, letting his voice carry over to the higher end of his range.

Roitelet equally yelled back: "Right before your body is completely covered in nothing but daggers, I'll let you do whatever left of my daughter after I'm finished with her! Face it. You're nothing but a damned schoolboy rubbing pennies together trying to make a pound! I have to get back to the living to get back to the good days. You aren't leaving hell alive, fucker!"

"I…was always envious of those cards she always kept with her… Why would she ever choose them over me? Watching her read them every day only made me angrier and angrier. If it wasn't her mother who gave them to her, I would've thrown them away if I couldn't get in between them. And to watch her disappear into that rich kid's mansion? To see them give her clothes, warm meals, a roof… I'll never forgive them for that… They…They stole her away from me…from us… No matter what it is that takes her away…I'll rip it to shreds. I'll kill it and crush it and rip it apart until it doesn't exist anymore. Until it never existed. I don't need a world that separates us!"

Until then, the demon princes were evenly split between the two opposing teams, but when they had heard Jake's will, they all excitedly ran to his side. Beelzebub, Asmodeus and Belphegor all abandoned Roitelet and he was left with one silver dagger. Jake's shotgun was now a single entity that covered his arm, leaving his hand free to press the trigger whenever he wanted. When Jake raised the weapon and aimed it, something suddenly clamped itself to his back, wrapping its hands around his chest. He didn't need to see the platinum hair on her head to know who it was. It seemed that during their yelling battle, Satan was slowly pulling her off the spears that pinned her.

"No! Jake, no! Stop this…Stop all this…This isn't like you-!" she sobbed, trying to embrace him as much as she could.

Her head rested on his shoulder, and he felt every tear drop. The blood didn't stop, but she didn't seem to feel the pain. Her wings tried to cradle both of them.

"No Jake…I want to prove that I'm not useless to you. I'm not useless…I'm not useless…I can save you… If…If you keep going on like this… If you keep lying like this…I'll start to believe you. I'll start…hating you…"

"N-No…!"

"You…You aren't a bad person…You're not anything at all like you said. You're just…twisting your words…right? You're not like this at all. You're just lying…"

He sighed, knowing what would happen if he answered her. If he shot, he would have finished off the worst scum on the planet, but Merianna would never forgive him. She wanted to believe that he lied his way through the whole fight. Her hands found their way over his, tugging his fingers away from the trigger.

"Don't do this…now…" Jake begged, "I can just…make him go away. Don't make me stop now…"

"Please…No more of this, Jake…No more…" she sobbed.

"H-Hey! What are you doing?" Asmodeus screeched.

He reached a hand to pull her off, but Jake changed the aim of the weapon over to the face of the demon.

"I won't allow such a filthy being like you to touch her. Get away or I'll shoot a hole right in your goddamn face."

He did move back, but emitted a low droning sound of displeasure. The other demons beside him snickered at his humiliation.

"Satan…look what you've done!" flew an accusation.

"Pft, I'm getting tired of waiting! I want this to be settled and I want a soul to eat _now_." He defended, "Look how furious this human is- all thanks to me."

"Shut up, all of you." Jake growled.

He had to choke the words out, one syllable at a time.

"You're…right…I'm…lying…I was…lying all this time…I'm the…biggest liar ever…"

The demon princes all growled in surprise and betrayal, disappearing in angry pyres of fire. They appeared back in their thrones, yelling insults and curses at them.

"You stupid fuck! You treated us like idiots! You stomped all over our fun little game? We should be hacking you to sludge right now!"

"You were so close to winning! Didn't you just claim to want to kill him twice over?"

The silver gun sat useless in their hands, devoid of all the power that had made it strong. At the very least, the demon princes were so angry that they didn't all join Roitelet, who was surprised at the turn of events. Jake took his finger off the trigger as a correct demonstration of proper trigger discipline.

"I know that angels can sin too." Merianna said softly, "I've heard it so many times…I just never…thought of it like that… I know that angels can sin."

She wiped her eyes on his shirt and moved her finger over the trigger, feeling it give way.

"Because I fell in love with you."

A shot.

"I really love you."

Another shot.

"I will always love you."

Another shot.

"I love you dearly."

Another shot.

"I love you."

Another shot.

"I really love you."

Another shot.

"I love you, Jake."

Another shot.

"I love you, Jake. That's my sin…I love you."

Another shot rang out.

When she had been overcome with sobbing, Jake took over her finger on the trigger.

"I love you too."

A shot.

"I love you too."

A shot.

"I love you too."

A shot.

"I-I'll love you forever and ever."

A shot.

"Merianna, I really really lo-"

Merianna felt something stab her stomach. She let go of Jake and saw the bloodied tip of a giant spear through his body. In shock, a small cry escaped her lips. She managed to snap awake from the shock and caught his body as he fell to the ground.

"W-Why?!" she wailed.

Turning her head to the opposing side, it seemed that the seven princes had finally made their decision to join a team. However, their victor was also laying on the ground, bleeding heavily and full of bullets. She held Jake's shoulders, pulling him up onto her lap. She called his name over and over. He didn't answer, looking like he had gone to a soft sleep. She reached her arms over to try to take the spear out, forgetting that it was intangible. She cried, holding his face in her hands. He was still alive and breathing. She begged for him to stand up. She looked around for the gun, but it was nowhere to be found.

Clairvaux appeared, placing a hand on Merianna's shoulder. She moved it away reflexively, staring into Clairvaux's eyes.

"Cl-Clair-! Help me-ee! He-He won't…get up…!" she sobbed.

Clairvaux grimaced and said: "I'm sorry, Merianna. He was chosen in the end."

She hooked her arms under Merianna's armpits, dragging her backwards. She yelled and screamed to be let go. She sobbed and kicked to try to get away. Clairvaux was much stronger than her, raising her hand above Merianna's head to knock her unconscious.

"Jaaaaaake!" she screamed.

The last thing she saw were the seven demon princes all rushing at his body, mouths wide and teeth glimmering.


End file.
